New York Points The Way In Dealing With Opioid Crisis

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I write about trends/issues/policy facing the U.S. cannabis industry.

Image: Matthew Staver/Bloomberg

Could medical marijuana help solve America’s opioid crisis? The state of New York is convinced that it can.

The New York State Department of Health recently began urging doctors prescribing opioids for patients with severe pain to consider medical marijuana as an alternative. The guidance was part of an emergency regulation that went into effect July 12.

“Adding opioid replacement as a qualifying condition for medical marijuana offers providers another treatment option, which is a critical step in combating the deadly opioid epidemic affecting people across the state,” Zucker said.

Measured against the grisly national standard, the Empire State’s death rate is better than average. If New York’s effort works, let’s hope other states follow. In Ohio, New Hampshire and West Virginia, the rates are more than twice that of New York. In West Virginia, opioids kill almost as many people as diabetes.

There are so many grim ways to measure the misery caused by the misuse of heroin, fentanyl hydrocodone, oxycodone and other opioid variants. Beyond the death rate, the opioid crisis has staggering economic costs. The CDC says prescription opioid misuse costs the U.S. economy $78.5 billion annually in healthcare costs, lost productivity, addiction treatment and criminal justice spending. More than 2.6 million people in the U.S. are addicted to opioids — which means that by extension, a much larger number in this country are suffering. Even in our Acreage Holdings offices we have felt the epidemic’s consequences — a colleague of mine recently suffered the death of a 22-year-old nephew.

Opioid overdoses were involved in the deaths of more than 42,000 people in the U.S. in 2016, a 28% increase from 2015. The problem is so serious, it’s been dragging down this country’s life expectancy, which actually declined for the second straight year in 2016 — the first time that’s occurred since the early 1960s. The worsening national opioid crisis has prompted some realigning of politics. A number of conservative newspapers have hailed New York’s move.

Thirty states have implemented some form of medical marijuana program, and it is our belief this will help limit the number of pain patients who become addicted in the first place. Of equal importance, researchers in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania can now legally study the effectiveness of medical marijuana in helping patients withdraw from opioids.

A few critics insist that cannabis will bring with it new complications. What naysayers always fail to mention is that virtually nobody has ever died from a cannabis overdose. The use of cannabis will put a significant dent in the death toll from medications that kill tens of thousands of Americans every year.

Many readers might think my view is biased. After all, I am the chief executive of a company that stands to benefit from the widening acceptance of medical marijuana. With medical marijuana legal in 30 states, the District of Columbia, Guam and Puerto Rico, let’s allow objective scientists a say:

A study published in 2017 by The National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine finds that cannabis is effective in treating pain for some conditions.

University of Georgia Professor of Public Policy David Bradford tells NPR, "Cannabis is much less risky than opiates, as far as likelihood of dependency. And certainly, there's no mortality risk" from marijuana.

A 2014 study published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine finds a clear and substantial link between legal marijuana and fewer opioid fatalities. Opioid-related deaths fell by 33% over six years in 13 states following the legalization of medical marijuana. The researchers wrote that the policy implication of their research was clear: “Enactment of laws to allow for use of medical cannabis may be advocated as part of a comprehensive package of policies to reduce the population risk of opioid analgesics.”

Another report published in May, also in JAMA Internal Medicine, finds that states with legal marijuana enjoyed a 14% reduction in opioid prescriptions.

A study published by the National Center for Biotechnology Information notes that, “The introduction of ever more powerful opioids like fentanyl and carfentanyl into the illicit drug market and the resulting day-to-day increase in opioid overdoses highlights the immediate need for innovative short- and long-term intervention strategies” including the “the medical use of cannabis.”

Such research findings go on and on, and we at Acreage Holdings bear witness on a daily basis to the medical miracles this plant provides to the patients we serve.

With New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania taking this important step in battling our opioid crisis, it’s reasonable to expect that other states will soon follow. If good sense prevails, the federal government will follow New York’s example. After all, it’s good medicine, good policy and good politics.